A power semiconductor device should have low turn-on resistance or a low saturation voltage in order to reduce power loss in a conductive state when a large amount of current flows. Furthermore, the power semiconductor device should have a characteristic of enduring an inverse directional high voltage at a PN conjunction thereof, which may be applied to opposite terminals of the power semiconductor device when it is turned off or when a switch is turned off, that is, the power semiconductor device should have a high breakdown voltage characteristic.
When various power semiconductor devices satisfying electrical and physical conditions are packaged in one module, the number of semiconductor devices included in the packaged module and electrical specifications thereof may vary depending on the conditions required by a system.
Generally, a three-phase power semiconductor module is used so as to generate a Lorentz force for driving a motor. That is, the three-phase power semiconductor module controls a current and power applied to the motor, such that a driven state of the motor is determined.
Although conventional silicon insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and silicon diodes have been included and used in such a three-phase semiconductor module, the three-phase semiconductor module has recently tended to include silicon carbide (SiC) metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) and silicon carbide diodes in order to minimize power consumption therein and to increase a switching speed thereof.
When the silicon IGBTs or silicon carbide MOSFETs are connected to separate diodes, a plurality of wires are required for the connection, and since parasitic capacitance and inductance occur due to the plurality of wires, the switching speed of the module may be reduced.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for the enhancement of understanding of the background of the disclosure and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.